Tag: accounting

In the next 10 years, I and most of my partners will retire from SCG Chartered Accountants. To prepare for that, we’ve started working on succession. A lot of the work revolves around improving our HR process, identifying and placing people on the path to…

A company’s accounting year is the period for which it prepares its annual financial statements. It must consistently prepare its financial statements to that date. This enables users of financial statements to compare performance between years. Changing your accounting year has tax implications. It poses…

Cash flow, the total amount of money moving in and out of your business, affects how much cash you have. If cash is moving out faster than its moving in, you may run short of cash and may have to raise funds through borrowing, sale…

Outsourced accounting services can solve the accounting problems of Ghanaian SMEs. At SCG, we believe that without good accounting, you can’t run a successful business. Here’s our own experience with poor accounting, Poor accounting is expensive. SME accounting problems Ignorance – accounting is not at…

We have a crisis of confidence in audits in Ghana. That audits matter hit home when some banks failed, and the Bank of Ghana stepped in to rescue the weak banks. The public asked, “where were the auditors”? “Can we trust our auditors”? We are…

Accounting has its own language. To have a meaningful conversation with your accountant, you must know the accounting terms they use. Five accounting terms you must know are: Net income Cash flow Invoice Accounts receivable (also called debtors) Accounts payable (also called creditors) WHAT IS…

I made a profit but where did the cash go? This is the surprised reaction when you make a profit but have no cash to show for it. You pay bills with cash and not profit. So, whilst you’ve made a profit, you may not…

SCG Chartered Accountants (SCG) is not my first venture into self-employment. That was SCG Consulting, which focused on implementing and supporting Pastel accounting and payroll as its primary business. We made a bet back then that technology was the future! We were accountants, and setting…

Many Ghanainan SME business owners and finance people I speak to about moving accounting to cloud-based technology are often apprehensive about the change. They are particularly concerned about security and cite that as a reason not to consider cloud options. Many others are not aware…

I’m not talking hypothetically when I say poor accounting is expensive. Nor am I talking as an accountant with a vested interest in selling you my expertise. I’m talking as a business owner who, with the best of intentions, ended up with poor accounting for…